text: Albrecht-Schönzart directs a research group at the Colorado School of Mines in radio- and nuclear chemistry as well as the chemistry and physics of critical materials. In 2016 he received federal funding from the US Department of Energy through the Office of Basic Energy Sciences as part of the Energy Frontier Research Center program to establish the Center for Actinide Science & Technology (CAST), a multi-institution research center dedicated to advancing our understanding of how electronic structure and bonding control the properties of radioactive materials, with focus on alleviating the environmental impacts of nuclear power and the Cold War.
  His research focuses on the use of synthetic, crystallographic, and spectroscopic techniques and quantum chemical simulation to better understand the nature of bonding and physical properties in lanthanides and actinides complexes. Albrecht-Schönzart is particularly known for his research on the chemistry of highly radioactive and scarce heavy actinides such as berkelium and californium.